News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-02-17
STORIES OF THE WAR.
Some Incidents that Our Old Soldiers will
Appreciate,

Some Incidents that Our Old Soldiers will
Appreciate,
To the uninitiated, inspection may
appear to have been a very trifling affair.
| 1t is a small matter, doubtless, in
''piping times of peace" when the
| guardians of the public veal are snugly
and comfortably ensconced in barracks.
But it IS something more than a mere
| incident of the days routine among SOL
dieTs in the field. Imagine the conster
| Il ton and bitter agony that prevailed
when an order was received requiring
| inspection to be held in an hour, and
this when we had been floundering
about in the mud for days and some
times even for weeks. 1t was no boys
play then, for the reputation of each IN
dividual as we'll as that of the organi-
Zation to which he belonged was at
stake Then, it must be remembered,
we had not a very large supply of emery
paper, oil, brushes and blacking, articles
that are indispensable in we'll ordered
army household. These were provided.
of course, either from the company fund
the pocket of the Captain or that of the
wonderful to see how suddenly and mys-
teriously such things would disappear
during the march.
One would naturally suppose that, in
the absence of blacking, creased shoes
would ''pass muster" But they would
not; in the early part OF the war; at any
rate. At least it was so in the regiment
to which l belonged have good rea-
son for feeling sure on this point, for
made test case of it once, and got de-
tailed for two hours police duty to re-
ward me for my presumption.
Verify the veteran of the war still
keenly remembers how hard he had to
lahor to prepare himself for inspection;
how he rubbed his brasses until there
was no such thing as mistaking the "U.
s. upon his belt or the eagle upon his
cOat-buttOns; how he scrubbed his mus
ket until it would not soil even lady's
fingers, and until the inside of its barrel
glistened like Furnished silver; and how
he desperately and often vainly en-
deavOred to make his rough and heavy
''gunbohts' appear like patent feathers.
The sometimes needed admonition, too,
gently or emphatically expressed, accord
lAitS W tllC LCLl pGI VI Ille Ills pGCIluH Oll-
Ger, still fingers in his memory.
But TO no man in the army did the or
der to appear upon inspection bring such
absolute terror as it did to the company
cook. 1t was a serious matter indeed to
''Old Greasy" In his work of prepara-
tion he had to begin at the very begin
ming. He was usually not up in the drill
and his clothing and equipments were
sometimes in worse condition even than
raw material, If viewed from a military
standpoint His musket was usually
vertable bed of rust, his suit of blue be-
smeared with grease and his shoes, if he
happened to have any, were a sight to be-
hold. The eXacting nature of his labors
IN the cook house made it hard for him
to keep his paraphernalia of war in or
der. Sometimes he was excused from
inspection, but this made it all the
worse for him when his captain did or
dor him ont 0F all the ludicrOus things
that came under my observation during |
the war. I can remember nothing which, |
.A >-s=sllh ---.s 9,.... r. 80 2 ]. "a t- re +
cut by the company cook as he stood |
in line upon insp cion, his |
face bearing a look of real agony and |
his whole body trembling beneath the |
stern and reproachful gaze of the IN
specting officer, as if he were saying |
beneath his breath, with barely sup |
pressed sobs: ''You couldn't do any |
better yourself if you were in my place. > |
But this was in the earlier part of the |
war, before campaigns and battles had |
been begun in real earnest. After that |
each one had to do his own cooking, and |
all know how it was then.
In Massachusetts regiment which |
did good service in the Southwest, in |
spection was once taken advantage of TO |
hasten the appearance of the paymaster |
the eXchequer being in a aspainfully |
low state. The regiment was ordered |
out one day, and after muskets had been |
examined, and all that was visible upon |
the outside was looked over, the men |
were ordered to unsling knapsacks. |
These were spread open in the usual |
way, each one in front of its owner, and |
the Colonel and inspecting officer, with |
their brilliant retinue, passed down the |
line to look them over. As they pro- |
ceeded it became apparent that some
thing unusual upon occasions of this |
kind was in the air, for they could hard |
ly keep from laughing a terrible Of |
fence on parade, especially for officers. |
Every soldier who had pocketbook, |
particularly of the large variety those
used exclusively for paper money-had |
thrown it wide open, empty. of course, |
on his knapsack. When the officers had |
completed their work they had their |
laugh out, and then the inspecting Of
ticer rem rked TO the Colonel: Il guess
the boys want some money" The Pay, |
master came along in few days.
Almost everybody, of course, has |
heard of the man who had no shoes,
but who, when ordered out upon in
spection, appeared with his bare feet |
blacked in a manner that would cause |
any professor" of the box and brush |
to be wild with envy. Yet few regard |
the yarn az true 1t was, nevertheless. a |
fact, and it showed rare fidelity to mill |
tary requirements, although it provoked |
good deal of merriment at the time.
Some men could never see any utility
in white gloves. They could imagine
how nice they might be in the militia,
but in actual service, knocking about in
a kinds of weather. in swamps and |
forests, they appeared to be sadly out of
place. There was one purpose, however, |
for which they were eminently useful. |
That as for wear upon inspection not
by the men in the ranks (they seldom
had any, being obliged to use theirs for
rags in cleaning their guus)-but by the
inspecting officer. They were handy
then in determining the amount of rust
that had adhered to the end of ram
rod after it had been in contact with
the bottom of gun barrel.